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Punctuation: Understanding the basics

Punctuation is a set of specific marks or symbols that we used to express the meaning of our sentences clearly and to make the flow of the text smooth. It shows us where we need to pause, it separates ideas from each other, it lets us know that a certain phrase is quoting someone else’s words, and has a dozen other important functions.

To understand just how necessary and significant punctuation is, imagine the world where it doesn’t exist. In that world, we wouldn’t have known where one sentence ends and the other one starts because there wouldn’t be any full stops. We also would have had no idea if a certain phrase is a question or not, since there would be no question marks. And how would we show our emotions in writing if we didn’t have exclamation marks and ellipses? In short, punctuation, when used properly, makes things easier for everyone, both writers and readers.

Punctuation marks are also used to avoid ambiguity. For example, "woman, without her man, is nothing" has a different meaning from "woman: without her, man is nothing"

This is a summary of punctuation, read the rules and study the examples given.

End punctuation marks:

1. Full stop , or period (.)

  • Used a full stop at the end of a sentence:
    She stood up and went away. She was furious.
  • Used for abbreviations:
    Co. (Company)
    M.P. (Member of Parliament)

2. Question marks (?)

  • Question marks are used at the end of direct questions:
    Where do you live?
    Are you crazy?
    Did you do the homework?
  • Use a question mark at the end of tag questions:
    You will help me, won't you?
    He likes soccer, doesn't he?

3. Exclamation marks (!)

  • Used to indicate strong emotions:
    She's so beautiful!
    What a nice girl!
    How interesting!
  • Used after interjections:
    Oh! It's awful.
    Hi! What's up?

Commas (,)

  • Commas are used between items in a series or list. The last two items of the series usually do not need a comma between them. They are separated by "and".
    I like spaghetti, fish, pizza, and couscous.
  • Commas are also used between adjectives or adverbs:
    I'd like to have a big, black, German car.
    She speaks slowly, quietly and eloquently.
  • After the street address and city in an address:
    34 Hassan II Street, Rabat, Morocco.
  • Before or after direct speech:
    He said,"I hate being treated like that."
    "I'm sorry", she replied.
  • Before a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)
    He woke up late, so he had to drive to work.

Semicolons (;)

  • Semicolons are used instead of a full stop or period to separate independent sentences:
    They woke up early; then they went jogging.
  • Use a semicolon to separate items in a series when those items contain punctuation such as a comma:
    They visited the Eiffel Tower, Paris; Big Ben, London; and the statue of liberty, New York

Colons (:)

  • Use a colon to introduce a list:
    He visited three cities last summer holiday: Madrid, Roma and Athens.
  • To introduce an idea or an explanation:
    He had one idea in mind: to see her as soon as possible.
  • To introduce direct speech or a quotation:
    The secretary whispered in his ear: "Your wife is on the phone. "

Dashes (--)

  • To introduce parenthetical information:
    I put on a blue jacket --the one my mother bought me-- and blue jeans.
  • To show an afterthought:
    I explained to him my point of view-- at least I tried!

Apostrophes (')

  • Use an apostrophe to indicate a missing letter or letters in a contraction.
    I'm fed up with his stories
  • Use an apostrophe plus the letter "s" to show possession.
    My brother's girlfriend is such a sweet girl.

Quotation marks ("")

  • Quotation marks are used to quote speech, sentences, or words.
    She said, "I love you."
Brackets ( )

Brackets (parentheses) are punctuation marks used within a sentence to include information that is not essential to the main point. Information within parentheses is usually supplementary; were it removed, the meaning of the sentence would remain unchanged.

  1. Curved Brackets or Parentheses (…) are the most commonly used and are the focus of this article.
  2. Square Brackets […] are most often used to include additional information from an outside source (someone other than the original author).
  3. Curly Brackets {…} are often used in prose to designate a list of equal choices.
  4. Angle Brackets <…> are typically used to enclose and illustrate highlighted information.
Now, test yourself to see if you truly understand the rules of punctuation. Below is the link to a 44 question test about punctuation, capitalization and writing numbers from www.grammarbook.com 


I hope that you enjoyed this article and that the information helps you with your classes.

Good luck, and good teaching.

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